The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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Recent Editions

Photo by Bloomberg.

Meta Could Be Taking a Page From Microsoft’s Age-Old Playbook

By Martin Peers · Nov 7, 2022 5:00pm PST

Investors like pink slips. Meta Platforms’ stock price bounced 6.5% today on news of impending mass layoffs at the social media giant. The rally likely reflects how cheap Meta stock has gotten—the low it hit last Thursday of $88.91 was 74% below where it started the year. Investors may also think layoffs mean Meta is listening to their concerns... Investors like pink slips. Meta Platforms’ stock price bounced 6.5% today on news of impending...

Patrick Collision. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Truth About Tech Layoffs

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 3, 2022 5:34pm PDT · 5 comments

Today, tech layoffs accelerated as Stripe slashed 1,000 jobs, or 14% of its workforce, and Lyft and Affirm joined the fray. The flood will continue tomorrow if Elon Musk slashes Twitter’s employee count in half, as he is expected to do. The first big takeaway from the massive recalibrations going on is that leaders dramatically... Today, tech layoffs accelerated as Stripe slashed 1,000 jobs, or 14% of its workforce, and Lyft...

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Ripple Effects of Tech Layoffs Will Sink In Soon

By Martin Peers · Nov 2, 2022 5:05pm PDT

Be happy if you’re a tech worker with a job. More and more people in the industry are losing theirs. Today alone, The Information reported that online banking startup Chime was cutting 12% of its workforce and Bloomberg reported that Opendoor slashed 18% of its headcount. Those cuts follow other layoffs in recent days instituted by recruiting... Be happy if you’re a tech worker with a job. More and more people in the industry are losing...

The Wrong Way to Look at Twitter’s Subscription Business

The Wrong Way to Look at Twitter’s Subscription Business

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 1, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 6 comments

The Wrong Way to Look at Twitter’s Subscription Business

The Wrong Way to Look at Twitter’s Subscription Business

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 1, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 6 comments

Hell hath frozen over. Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk said publicly today that the company cannot be supported solely by advertising, and he tweeted new details about its subscription plans. What to me seems like a fairly run-of-the-mill business question—how to get more money from users who might be willing to pay you more—is apparently a... Hell hath frozen over. Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk said publicly today that the company cannot...

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Musk’s Management of Twitter May Catch Meta’s and Alphabet’s Attention

By Martin Peers · Oct 31, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Elon Musk is certainly giving big tech a lesson in how to manage decisively. It’s only been four days since he took control of Twitter, but he is reportedly poised to instigate mass layoffs while he simultaneously orders the pursuit of all manner of new business ideas, such as charging users for the privilege of having “verified” status, as The... Elon Musk is certainly giving big tech a lesson in how to manage decisively. It’s only been four...

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Google’s Pain Is Amazon’s Gain

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 27, 2022 5:00pm PDT

They say downturns provide opportunities for those ready to seize them. And to see how, look no further than Amazon’s very healthy ads business. In the most recent quarter, when marketers pulled back from Google, Meta and just about everywhere else, Amazon grew its advertising business 25%. It’s now at an annualized run rate of almost $40... They say downturns provide opportunities for those ready to seize them. And to see how, look no...

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On Metaverse Spending, Zuckerberg Doesn’t Care What Critics Say

By Martin Peers · Oct 26, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Mark Zuckerberg has a message to all his metaverse critics out there: He doesn’t care what you think. Not only is he not cutting back on augmented and virtual reality investments to take account of the economic slump, he plans to spend even more money! In reporting third-quarter earnings Wednesday, Facebook owner Meta Platforms—showing a... Mark Zuckerberg has a message to all his metaverse critics out there: He doesn’t care what you...

Photo by Bloomberg

Google’s Head-Scratcher, Microsoft’s Slowing Azure

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 25, 2022 5:28pm PDT

Photo by Bloomberg

Google’s Head-Scratcher, Microsoft’s Slowing Azure

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 25, 2022 5:28pm PDT

So much for doing more with less. Alphabet, one of the many tech giants that has been discussing the need to be more efficient, still spent a lot in its most recent quarter, which ended up hurting them. Google’s parent company reported a big 19% drop in operating profit for its third quarter on Tuesday as it continued to hire heavily and... So much for doing more with less. Alphabet, one of the many tech giants that has been discussing...

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Altimeter’s Meta Manifesto Says About Investor Attitudes to Big Tech

By Martin Peers · Oct 24, 2022 5:00pm PDT

It’s no fun being a Big Tech executive nowadays. Not only do they have antitrust regulators breathing down their necks, now investors are beginning to complain about their spending! Today, for instance, Altimeter Capital’s Brad Gerstner published an open letter to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling for him to reduce staffing by at least... It’s no fun being a Big Tech executive nowadays. Not only do they have antitrust regulators...

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Snap Delivers Downbeat Q4 Outlook

By Martin Peers · Oct 20, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Yes, folks, it seems the economy really is deteriorating. After weeks of downbeat economic forecasts—including from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos—Snap’s third-quarter earnings Thursday provided some specifics. Snap reported 6% revenue growth for the quarter—half the rate of the second quarter, and a fraction of the first-quarter growth rate. Snap had... Yes, folks, it seems the economy really is deteriorating. After weeks of downbeat economic...

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The Logic of a Microsoft-Netflix Deal Is Growing

By Martin Peers · Oct 19, 2022 5:00pm PDT

If you watched Netflix’s quarterly earnings analyst call on Tuesday night, you might have caught an interesting comment from Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters. One of the main reasons Netflix picked Microsoft as the company to handle the tech side of its new advertising sales effort, Peters said, was that “we felt like we were highly... If you watched Netflix’s quarterly earnings analyst call on Tuesday night, you might have caught...

Starboard Value CEO Jeffrey Smith. Photo by Bloomberg

Salesforce’s Wake-Up Call Was Long Overdue

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 18, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Starboard Value CEO Jeffrey Smith. Photo by Bloomberg

Salesforce’s Wake-Up Call Was Long Overdue

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 18, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Jeffrey Smith might be just the jolt Salesforce needs. The CEO of Starboard Value told CNBC Tuesday that his activist investor hedge fund had taken a significant stake in Salesforce, noting that the cloud software company could do much better in the way of growth and profitability. Activists don’t always get things right, but in this case, Smith... Jeffrey Smith might be just the jolt Salesforce needs. The CEO of Starboard Value told CNBC...

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Tech Disruptors Lose Their Luster

By Martin Peers · Oct 17, 2022 5:00pm PDT

If you’ve closed your eyes lately to the constant gyrations in the stock market, you might have missed some interesting trends in valuations. One we’ve observed lately is how a number of older companies, in fields such as ad-supported media, retail, personal lending and shoes, are now trading at a premium to the venture-backed firms that were... If you’ve closed your eyes lately to the constant gyrations in the stock market, you might have...

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Netflix Fast Forwards To Ads

By Martin Peers · Oct 13, 2022 5:00pm PDT

When it comes to moving fast, the old entertainment folks just can’t beat Netflix. The streaming giant said today it was launching its ad-supported tier of service on Nov. 1 in Mexico and Canada, and then in the U.S. two days later. That’s barely six months after CEO Reed Hastings interrupted an earnings call to reveal his willingness to... When it comes to moving fast, the old entertainment folks just can’t beat Netflix. The streaming...

Photo by Bloomberg

Apple’s Mixed-Reality Plans Have Mark Zuckerberg Sweating

By Martin Peers · Oct 12, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

You have to hand it to Mark Zuckerberg. He has managed to change the conversation around his company—from the noxious effects of social media to his hugely ambitious metaverse plans. This week in particular he rode a wave of publicity around Meta’s upcoming new high-end virtual reality headset. There are plenty of skeptics about his metaverse... You have to hand it to Mark Zuckerberg. He has managed to change the conversation around his...

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TikTok and the Universal Law of Internet Companies

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 11, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Shutterstock.

TikTok and the Universal Law of Internet Companies

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 11, 2022 5:00pm PDT

So, what’s next for TikTok? A phone? Stay with me for a second here. As we reported a few months ago, TikTok wants its users to buy a lot more stuff through the app. Juro reported that TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, wants to double the revenue it gets from selling goods through its Chinese video app, Douyin. TikTok, meanwhile, has big... So, what’s next for TikTok? A phone? Stay with me for a second here. As we reported a few...

Photo by Bloomberg

What the Netflix-Disney Stock Price Gap Tells Us

By Martin Peers · Oct 10, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

We’re barely a week away from the start of tech earnings season, when Netflix reports its third-quarter numbers. Investors are feeling bullish: Netflix shares have rallied 30% since mid-July, roughly when the company reported it had lost fewer subscribers in the second quarter than it had projected. That supposedly “better than expected” result... We’re barely a week away from the start of tech earnings season, when Netflix reports its...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo by Bloomberg.

ByteDance’s Big Marketing Bill

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 6, 2022 5:00pm PDT

It turns out that viral tech phenomena are not so, well, viral. That was one of the big takeaways from ByteDance’s 2021 financials, reported today by The Wall Street Journal. ByteDance, which owns TikTok and a range of extraordinarily popular Chinese apps, lost more than $7 billion from its operations last year. One reason was heavy... It turns out that viral tech phenomena are not so, well, viral. That was one of the big takeaways...

Photo by Bloomberg

Forget Musk and Twitter—Microsoft’s Activision Deal Is Really What’s in Doubt

By Martin Peers · Oct 5, 2022 5:00pm PDT

If you had to bet on which of this year’s big tech acquisitions would fall apart, you might have thought the obvious choice was Twitter-Musk, at least before Tuesday’s news that Musk has reversed course and is willing to close. (And even now the completion of that deal isn’t certain.) But arguably a more likely candidate for deal implosion was... If you had to bet on which of this year’s big tech acquisitions would fall apart, you might have...

Photo by Bloomberg

Elon Musk Learns to Prioritize

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 4, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Bloomberg

Elon Musk Learns to Prioritize

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 4, 2022 5:00pm PDT

So what happened? After spending weeks preparing for a legal battle to avoid buying Twitter, Elon Musk shrugged and said, “OK, I’ll buy it”—at exactly the $44 billion price he originally offered in April. Grand speculation greeted the move—as with all things Musk—about what was really going on behind the scenes. Was this another... So what happened? After spending weeks preparing for a legal battle to avoid buying Twitter, Elon...